In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1915) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions (1915), The history of Madison County, Ohio (1883)
JAMES Q. GEER, farmer, P. O. Somerford, was born in Madison County, Ohio, September 12, 1837; he is a son of James and Rachel (Minchell) Geer, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Ross County, Ohio. They were married in Madison County in 1823. and were the parents of eleven children, of whom nine survive, our subject being the fourth son and sixth child. His father died when ho was but seven years of age, and he was compelled to go to work to help support the family. His mother died in 1855. He was married, October 0. 1859, to Elizabeth Heffley, and soon after his marriage he bought seventy-eight acres of land in Somerford Township, to which he has since added twenty acres, making in all ninety-eight acres of good land. Politically, he is a stanch Republican. By his marriage he has had seven children, of whom six are living — Charles, Luther, Wilbert, Cora L., Guy and Rea. A very sad accident betel Mr. and Mrs. Geer July 6, 1870, when they met with the loss of little Minnie Estella, who fell in the well and was drowned before aid could reach her.
As printed in The history of Madison County, Ohio (1883). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
JAMES Q. GEER.
There is no calling or vocation in which enterprise and industry will not produce a rather large measure of success. In the pursuit of agriculture, enterprise and industry are quite essential. Among the well-known and highly-respected farmers of Somerford township, Madison county, Ohio, who have attained a large measure of success in agriculture, and who, at the same time, have greatly benefited the community in which they live, is James Q. Geer a retired farmer of Summerford. Although he was deprived of all educational advantages in his youth and was not able to learn to read or write, he was endowed with sound common sense and has made a successful business man. During all of these years he has had many difficulties with which to contend, including especially considerable sickness in the family. Nevertheless, he has remained an optimist and is so today.
James Q. Geer was born on September 17, 1836, near the present county infirmary in Union township, Madison county, Ohio. He is the son of James and Rachel (Minchel) Geer, natives of Vermont and Virginia, respectively. James Geer, Sr., was a renter and occupied a part of the Florence land. He died near Tradersville, when his son was only seven years old, leaving a widow and eight children. The mother kept the family together and lived until they were all grown, passing away at the age of fifty-two.
James Q. Geer grew to manhood near Tradersville, in Madison county. He was accustomed to take odd jobs of clearing land, rolling logs and grubbing. He performed his first work for Mr. Willard, the father of E. E. Willard, the president of the Madison county board of commissioners. He made rails, cut cordwood, broke horses, and in fact did anything that be could find to do. He and his brother, George, supported their mother until her death.
At the time of Mr. Geer’s marriage, he owned a horse worth possibly fifty dollars and a seventy-five dollar note, taken for the sale of a span of mules. An uncle had given him a' fifty-cent pocket piece and his wife received twenty-one hundred dollars cash out of the Heffley estate. Mr. Gear soon began to handle sheep, buying and selling them. He paid forty-seven and one-half dollars an acre for his first land and during the early years of his career paid thousands of dollars in interest at ten per cent His unde, Quinn Minchel, backed him in buying sheep and stood by him for thirty years or more.
He also borrowed money from John Thompson, but his uncle signed the papers. In later years be was able to borrow money at six per cent. Having began to bay land as soon as possible, Mr. Geer has acquired tract after tract and now owns several hundred acres bt land and several fine farms in Madison county, and also property in the village-of Summerford. He probably has more separate deeds than any other man in the county, many of the purchases, however, having included only a few acres. Mr. Geer still keeps sheep and has found them moat profitable.
James Q. Geer was married to Elisabeth Heffley, the eighth child in the family of Charles and Elizabeth (Wilson) Heffley. Mrs. Geer’s mother was the daughter of the original Valentine Wilson, of Somerford township. Mrs. Geer died on February 14, 1907, the last survivor of the family of nine Heffley children. The old Heffley home is located on the north bank of Deer creek, one mile north of Summerford and here Charles Heffley settled about 1820. Here he spent his life and died: on the old farm. The Heffley children were Jacob, Peter, Sarah Aim (who married Joseph Rafferty), William, Simon, Catherine (who married Henry Comfort), Sarah (who married George Stanford), Elizabeth (the wife of Mr. Geer) and Isaac.
Mr. and Mrs. Geer have been the parents of six children. Charles died in Columbus. Luther died in Chicago. Wilbert, who is one of the leading young farmers of Union township, married Flora Thompson, and they have one child, Marie. Cora, who is the wife of Harry Augustus of Dayton, Ohio, owns “Gooseneck Farm,” of one hundred and ninety-three acres. Guy married Mrs. Bliss Nelson, a widow, and they have one child, Blisabeth. Bay married Nora McVicker and they have two children, Charles and Chester (twins).
James Q. Geer is a good man and a good citizen, a man who has worked hard for the large competence which he may now enjoy in his declining years. He has the satisfaction of knowing that he has done much for the development of Madison county and has contributed in no small measure to Its present progress and. prosperity.
As printed in History of Madison County Ohio: Its People, Industries and Institutions (1915). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1915. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.